Digital imaging capabilities have been integrated into a wide range of devices, including digital cameras, tablet computers, and mobile phones. Digital imaging devices and image capture systems can refer to any type of device that can capture one or more digital images, including devices that capture still images or videos.
The integration of digital processing technology with imaging devices has enabled more powerful and easier to use photographic products, and has enabled compact devices to capture and enhance image data. For example, digital imaging devices may employ image stitching, which is the process of combining multiple photographic images with overlapping fields of view to produce a segmented panorama or high-resolution image. Commonly performed through the use of computer software, most approaches to image stitching align the edges of two or more images, determine overlapping regions of the edges, and combine the images based on the overlapping regions, for example into a panorama. Some digital imaging devices can stitch their photos internally, while some image stitching techniques are performed on a separate computing device.
As another example, digital imaging devices may employ image blending, which is the process of integrating an object or portion of a first image into a scene of a second image. This type of operation is useful for correcting, repairing or modifying digital images as well as for creating photo-montages. Image blending typically requires selection of the object or portion from the first image by a user, which can be a time consuming process requiring familiarity with a variety of tools in conventional image editing software. Consequentially, several problems arise including the fact that seams are typically introduced between the edited region and the rest of the original image.
One common use of an image capture device such as a digital camera is capturing an image of a group of people. However, the photographer is often part of the group and therefore the group and photographer may desire that the photographer be included in the image. One solution to this is to ask another person, not in the group, to take the image. However, there are not always other people available to act as photographer. Another solution to the problem of including the photographer in the group image is to use the camera's self-timer feature to capture the image, giving the photographer time to join the group after setting up the shot. However, use of the self-timer generally requires balancing the camera on a nearby object. There is not always such an object readily available, and use of an available nearby object often results in less-than-ideal framing and/or focus of the group image. Manually blending the photographer, as imaged in a separate photo, into the group photo is a time-intensive digital editing process requiring skill and familiarity with specialized software.